Trudeau and Coderre meet, discuss Energy East pipeline

By
Staff The Canadian Press

WATCH ABOVE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to discuss a range of issues, including the decision by the Montreal Metropolitan Community to reject the Energy East pipeline. Global's Tim Sargeant reports.

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MONTREAL – The federal government’s role is not to force cities such as Montreal to accept energy projects, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday, a day after his opponents demanded he tell the city’s mayor to “smarten up” and accept the controversial Energy East pipeline.

Trudeau met with Montreal mayor Denis Coderre for 45 minutes Tuesday to discuss a range of issues including the recent decision by the Montreal mayor and the organization that represents area municipalities to reject the 4,600-kilometre pipeline.

Opposition leader Rona Ambrose said Trudeau should be championing pipelines and calling on Coderre and other mayors to accept Energy East to enable Alberta’s oilsands to be able to be shipped overseas.

Conservative MP Candice Bergen told Trudeau in the Commons on Monday to “call Mr. Coderre and tell him to smarten up.”

Coderre and several other Quebec mayors came out last week against the project, arguing the environmental risks associated with it far outweigh the economic benefits.

That triggered a war of words with certain western Canadian politicians, including Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Brian Jean, head of the Opposition Wildrose party in Alberta.

Coderre and the other mayors of Montreal’s surrounding cities and towns said clean-up costs of a potential spill could reach $10 billion, while the city would only get around $2 million a year in economic benefits from the pipeline.

“We will participate fully in the (review) process. It’s not because we are asking questions and we are asking people to do their homework that we are not being respectful. At the end of the day it’s all about being respected. It’s to be responsible and have a balanced approach between economic development and sustainable development and cities are playing that role to make sure we can get that.”

Coderre pointed out that the Montreal area threw its support behind the Enbridge project because “they did their homework.”